A delegation representing the General Organisation of Sea Ports, the Economic Development Board and APM Terminals Bahrain, will visit Tokyo, Japan, from 22nd to 24th February to promote the Kingdom’s logistics and maritime credentials and explore bilateral trade opportunities and cooperation between the two countries in maritime, logistics and related industries.

The delegation is headed by Shaikh Daij bin Salman Al Khalifa, Chairman of the General Organisation of Sea Ports (GOP), who has been officially invited to Japan by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Commenting on the forthcoming visit, Shaikh Daij bin Salman Al Khalifa said: “Today, the Bahrain maritime and logistics industry has the strength and capabilities to compete on a global level more than ever before. The Khalifa Bin Salman Port and Bahrain Logistics Zone now represent a world class logistics hub right at the heart of the trillion dollar Gulf market. With these strong credentials, we are looking forward to visiting Japan, one of the Kingdom’s key strategic partners, and are confident that this visit will help strengthen economic, trade and investment relations in the maritime and related industries between the two countries. We hope the visit will lead to enhanced co-operation between our two countries, in all fields, especially in the ports, maritime and logistics sectors.”

During the three day visit, the delegation will meet with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, as well as individual meetings with Japanese logistics companies to discuss potential business opportunities for these companies in Bahrain. The delegation will also visit the Port of Yokohama located on the northwestern edge of Tokyo Bay. The highlight of the visit will be a joint GOP-EDB seminar organised in cooperation with the Kingdom of Bahrain’s embassy in Japan, scheduled for 23rd February, entitled “Opportunities in the Kingdom of Bahrain’s Maritime and Logistics Sectors”. Over 40 companies from various sectors are expected to attend the seminar which will give an insight into the opportunities available for investment in the Bahrain logistics and maritime industries.

In addition, the delegation will host a dinner for top executives from the logistics and related sectors that are keen on exploring expansion into Bahrain.

The Bahrain delegation hopes to build on the close commercial and economic relations between Bahrain and Japan. Bilateral trade between Japan and Bahrain increased by more than 20% to U.S. $1.3 billion in 2008, confirming the status of Japan as the Kingdom’s second largest global trading partner (only behind the U.S. with which Bahrain has a Free Trade Agreement). Trade relations are expected to grow further with the upcoming GCC-Japan Free Trade Agreement. Already many prominent Japanese institutions have chosen Bahrain as their regional headquarters, including Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, Daiwa Securities, Toyota Training Centre and Nomura.

The GOP continues to actively promote Bahrain’s maritime and logistics industries to facilitate investments into the Kingdom from targeted countries. The upcoming Japan visit is first of four international tours planned this year, continuing on from last year’s successful road shows conducted in London, Germany and Dubai.